Mandela Cheered in Speech to Congress
In an emotional speech to Congress on Thursday, South African President Nelson Mandela said the post-Cold War focus of the United States must be on eliminating “tyranny, instability and poverty” across the globe.
Mandela spoke to a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate and saluted the role Congress played in helping to bring about democracy and the end of minority white rule in South Africa.
He praised the enactment of economic sanctions against the former apartheid government--over the veto of former President Ronald Reagan.
Mandela brought cheering representatives and senators to their feet when he quoted slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
With the end of white rule, Mandela said, the South African people had cried out, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty.”
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